


crosswalk

by grub



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Character Study, Genderfluid Character, Implied Relationships, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 15:36:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6290137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grub/pseuds/grub
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is how I think each of the One Direction folks would react to being stuck at a really slow crosswalk. (poly OT5 AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	crosswalk

**Author's Note:**

> just for clarity's sake, Harry is a genderfluid demigirl (she/her pronouns), Louis is a trans girl (she/her pronouns), Zayn is nonbinary (they/them pronouns), and Liam and Niall are cis boys (he/his). and they're all dating! this isn't meant to take place in any particular order. thanks for reading

Although he was running, Liam couldn’t catch up to the crosswalk before the timer ran out. He slowed to a stop, put on an exaggerated frown, and sighed. He had a momentum in his run, and it was always a bummer to have to break it. He wobbled tiredly and pressed the button to cross with the tops of his fingers, leaning into it with all his weight.

“Wait,” an electronic voice said.

“Alright,” he replied. Then he chuckled to himself. He looked around to make sure no one had seen him laugh at his own joke. He sighed again and rocked back and forth on his feet.

This crosswalk was sure taking its time. Liam jogged in place anxiously, moving his arms and practicing pacing his breath. It was hard to keep still once he was in the “running zone.” He started jogging in a circle, first slowly, and then faster. By the time the electronic drumroll signaled for him to cross, Liam was too tired to get back into a run right away.

\--

Harry saw that she wasn’t going to be able to make the crosswalk at the pace she was going, and she didn’t feel like speeding up. She wasn’t in a hurry or anything. She walked up to the crosswalk and watched the flashing orange timer count down to 0.

She tried to press the cross button with one finger, but then realized she needed to use more force and tried with three instead.

“Wait,” an electronic voice said. Harry nodded vaguely and rocked back on her heels.

This crosswalk sure was taking its time. She kept switching her cloth grocery bag, full of vegetables from the farmer’s market, from her left hand to both hands to her right hand and back again. She watched the sky and got completely lost in thinking about what she was going to make with her vegetables, which made her think about serving dinner to Zayn and Niall, which made her think about good that made her feel, for whatever reason, and she was in the middle of wondering what Zayn would be wearing when she heard the electronic drumroll noise signaling for her to cross.

“A drumroll? For me?” she whispered, just to make herself smile. She slipped her grocery bag onto her arm and began to cross.

\--

Louis didn’t notice that the crosswalk still had three seconds left when she walked up to it, because she was busy looking at Facebook on her phone with her headphones in. In fact, she had actually almost walked into the crosswalk without noticing it was a crosswalk at all. She made a surprised noise as she looked up just in time to see the timer disappear and the orange hand stop flashing.

“O-kay,” she said slowly to herself. How annoying. She jabbed the button to cross with the side of her fist.

“Wait,” an electronic voice said. Louis grunted, seemingly in reply.

This crosswalk sure was taking its time. She considered jaywalking but remembered that Niall chewed her out last time she did. She crossed her arms tightly, and one of her earbuds fell out of her ears. She nestled it back into her ear. She was a bit tired of the playlist Harry made for her for now. As she scrolled vaguely through Spotify trying to find something else to listen to, she realized the electronic drumroll signaling for her to cross had been going for a while already. She jogged into the crosswalk, knowing that the drivers would let her cross even if the time ran out if she was already in the street.

\--

Niall strolled up to the crosswalk with his hands buried in his coat pockets. The flashing orange timer was counting down from “5.” He spent too long trying to figure out if that was enough time for him to cross and missed his opportunity entirely.

That was alright. He bit his nails on his left hand and pressed his knuckles on his right hand onto the button to cross.

“Wait,” an electronic voice said. Niall bit his nails some more.

This crosswalk sure was taking its time. Niall watched the cars go by in front of him and counted six red, two white, two silver, four blue, and he lost count of black. He noticed that all of the people driving red cars seemed to be women, which was sort of interesting, he guessed. Then he knelt down and re-tied his shoes tighter. By the time he straightened up, the electronic drumroll sound signaling for him to cross had started. He slipped his hands back in his pockets and headed forward.

\--

Zayn thought it was a little talent of theirs, simultaneously looking at Tumblr on their phone and paying good attention to whatever was happening in front of them. So of course, as they approached the intersection, they knew that they didn’t have enough time to cross at the crosswalk. They especially knew it when someone making a right turn honked at them after nearly running him over.

With wide eyes and wobbly legs, Zayn pressed the button to cross with their entire palm, half trying to steady themself.

“Wait,” an electronic voice said. Zayn let out a hot breath and slid their phone into their back pocket.

Zayn didn’t even notice how much time the crosswalk was taking. They almost completely zoned out, floating lyrics in their head, but mostly trying to calm down their pounding heartbeat. The electronic drumroll noise startled them a bit, but they managed to shake it off. They took big steps off of the curb and across the crosswalk.


End file.
